Happy Leap Day

Cailey, Mia, and Luke are having no adventures right now. They are asleep. I'm gonna write about what ever I want.

My title is sarcastic. Really, does February need an extra day? One more day to be sick? One more day to be cold? One more day to be cooped up? One more day to have your van fall into a monster pothole popping your rear tire? I think they made it short for a reason; let's not go and make it longer than it has to be.

This has been a long week. Monday was cheerleading. Tuesday was waiting for our van to get new tires from the aforementioned pothole. Wednesday was catechism. Tonight I had some professional development after school, grocery shopped, and got home at 6. I haven't been home all week. At least tomorrow is Friday, tgif.

The girls have a stack, a huge stack, of papers on the kitchen table I need to go through and figure out which ones need correcting, done, or thrown away. Between the two of them they have killed a small forest I think this year with all their worksheets and workbook pages. I'm seriously thinking of looking into some alternative, project-based school.

Can I vent about kindergarten? Supposedly the guideline is 10 minutes per grade per night. So, for 1st grade it would be 10 minutes, 2nd grade 20 minutes, etc. Well, I don't know if kindergarten should be 5 minutes then or what, but we can spend an hour doing school stuff a night. And keep in mind we've got to start getting ready for bed by 7:30. We are supposed to write each day, read baggy books each day, read browsing box books each day, write numbers to 100 each day, practice handwriting each day, practice spelling challenge words each day, and correct their mistakes each day. We don't get it done and I'm feeling like a failure as a parent here; it is no wonder many parents and students are burnt out on school by the time I get them in 7th grade. I'm burnt out and the girls are burnt out. Kindergarteners should like school.

The girls know it too; they cherish their afterschool time. They'll even tell me if we can't get home right away, "You are wasting our playing time." They know they should be getting to play more. Even their recess activities are picked for them by their teacher. Cailey is constantly lamenting her preschool days when she could pick her centers.

The girls are yet again going to not get their Pizza Hut coupon for reading enough books this month. Instead of reading easy picture books and racking up the numbers we are reading all of EB White's books.

Ok, enough feeling sorry for myself and my poor kindergarteners. Just jealous of daddy getting to go to "Tes-kiss" (Luke's version of Texas) again. Where it is warm. And sunny. And no homework.

Hot

Preston told Mia she was "hot." She was kind of confused because "I guess he means like the sun or something."

On an unrelated note, Luke was in time out yesterday and I was trying to talk to him and aparently the eye contact was just too much for him, because he kept saying, "Stop seeing me!" and trying to look away.

Cutest Cheer Ever!

Here's the cheer the girls went around saying yesterday:
Cookie Monster said that the Wildcats are
the great big cookie at the top of the jar!
Cookie Monster said that the Trojans are
the itty bitty crumbs at the bottom of the jar!

Eskimo kisses

Lukey was in a lovey mood tonight. He actually kissed me by choice, though he still grinned and wiped it off saying, "Yuck!" He sat and cuddled and we read books together. He kept rubbing noses with me too. I was one lucky mommy tonight. That's one benefit of Daddy not being home; Daddy's boy has no choice but to spend time with Mommy!

The girls were great big sisters tonight, of course they had ulterior motives. They shared their Hannah Montana stage and doll after school with Luke. They brought it downstairs for him to play with too keep him out of their room. He played happily with it for a long time. Yes, my guitar-loving, web-slinging, active boy likes to sing Hannah songs and play with Barbies, so what!

Luke's Turn

So I don't leave him out today, Luke is sleeping with the girls in my bed right now. That is his spot and I told them they could sleep with him tonight. They zonked out, but Luke came toddling into the computer room to tell me, "There's no room for ME!" Cailey and Mia, used to snuggling together, were just too close for his comfort.

Luke's new phrases are, "I'nt know" for "I don't know" and "I will!" when I ask him to do something. The second one I am working on replacing with a more pleasant tone of voice saying, "Ok, mommy."

I just love coming home because he runs so excitedly up to me and jumps up and down saying, "My mommy, my mommy!"

Catechism Class

I really love my catechism class I teach. They are the nicest group of kids. Tonight we were talking about spring coming (on a day when it was -14!) and God creating new life. We did an imprompu thank you to God as a prayer and response for the coming spring, and anything else the kids were feeling thankful for. Mia was thankful for summers when she doesn't have to go to school. So, we seriously said a prayer for that. Cailey, as sincere as can be in her little sweet voice said, "Thank you God for animals." I love kids.

Mia's Writer's Workshop

Mia brought home a packet of her Writer's Workshop writings. My she's grown. Her neat handwriting amazes me. That isn't from David or me! I can really read what she's writing. And it ocurred to me, we must be doing a pretty good job because I can tell from her pictures she's a happy kid. All of her pictures are so colorful and cheerful.

Meet the Kids

Meet Luke. This is him in a nutshell. He's two and a half. He taught himself this trick. What a funny little entertainer he is. He gets that from his dad! I'll have to post a video of him playing Guitar Hero with David. What a little natural. He knew he wanted that guitar for Christmas. What two year old asks for a guitar? I'm wondering what former rocker died and was reincarnated as my son!

Meet Mia. Mia's got a boyfriend. His name is Preston. And I guess he's not her boyfriend, but rather her fiance. Apparently he wrote his name next to hers, which is very serious business in kindergarten. "He said he wanted to marry me!" she giggled when I picked her up one day. I asked her what she said. "I didn't know what to say, so I said ok!" But she assured me she thinks he means when she's older. WHEW!

Meet Cailey. She constantly surprises me. I just came to realize, among all of the talents I knew she had, she is apparently a very creative little artist. She got a ++ on her last art assignment, which, Mia had to tell me, is really good! I noticed her snowman had details beyond the 3 circles. Her shape landscape actually resembled a skyline. Her licorice became the outline of a window on her gingerbread house, that kind of thing. She's always been intense, focused, detail oriented (another trait from Daddy!), but more in a mathematical, problem solving kind of way. It's been neat to see it used in this way too.



Those are my kiddos!